DNI Consulting
Strategic Enrollment and Marketing Research, Consulting, and Support
You believe in providing outstanding educational opportunities for your students; we provide the research and resources to support you.
We work closely with school leaders to create effective strategies to cultivate a robust student body for your school.
Our positive relationship with you is the cornerstone of our partnership.
“I am honored to have known Dana for a number of years. The DNI Consulting team completed a thoroughly enlightening and highly detailed demographic and psychographic research study for us, including significant interviews and focus groups, which provided immensely useful data and analysis to help us better understand our constituents and potential enrollment pool.
Dana was a highly engaged collaborator and with her knowledge, skills and background, we received an exceptionally focused and customized experience that fit our unique needs. We looked at a number of firms who work in this space and found Dana’s approach, demeanor, and granular understanding of our school’s culture and needs most appealing. It was an exceptional experience working with Dana and I hope to be in a situation to work with her again soon.
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Ways We Can Work Together
We know firsthand the challenges many schools face when navigating the unpredictable and demanding terrain of managing enrollment. We know the questions you ask at every phase of school growth: Are our goals realistic? Is there room to develop? How can we expand our reach? Is our market limiting our potential?
Our team is dedicated to helping you develop strategies to accurately plan enrollment, manage demographic projections, and create effective goals for the future of your school. We specialize in systems, strategy, and research. Most importantly, we value the relationship you have built with your community, your students, and your team. We can help you revitalize the future with those relationships in mind.
DNI Consulting regularly partners with other firms for strategic planning and
tagline and mission statement work, as well as full re-branding projects.
The Summit is the professional and personal renewal event for advanced admission officers and other school leaders. This is the conference for you if you desire an intentionally small, inspiring, and restorative experience. We’ll meet in Healdsburg, CA (yes, that’s wine country) for two+ days of work, rest, and play.
The Summit is on pause for 2024 - check back soon for information about 2025!
Click here to learn more!
The Assembly, a curated on-going mastermind group, harnesses the energy and expertise of colleagues to ignite action, address challenges, and inspire change.
Click the linked image above for more information.
A new session will begin in early 2025 and spaces are limited!
““I have learned the absolute import and value of sharing professional and personal experiences and challenges with like-minded colleagues outside of your own organization. It nourishes, inspires, comforts, and builds confidence. It would make every individual better at their job, and a better human if they had a similar group (with equally strong facilitation as yours).”
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Coaching provides space to dream, explore, and problem-solve with a partner who facilitates learning and discovery.
Click the linked image above to learn more.
“There is no doubt that without our coaching, I would not have accomplished nearly as much, nor would I have learned as much about myself in the process. I am so excited to continue our relationship and to continue to grow.”
““The work we did with you created a needed distance from the data and a respected third-party voice for framing issues.””
ABOUT DANA
Strategic Partners
Dana Nelson-Isaacs (she/her)
Founder and Principal
Dana brings more than 25 years of experience helping schools thrive, partnering with admission teams, heads, boards, and faculty to strengthen enrollment strategy, communications, and community engagement. Known for her thoughtful insight and candid, collaborative style, she works across all levels of school leadership to solve complex challenges with clarity and heart.
Colleen Wecker (she/her)
Senior Data Strategist
Colleen has over fifteen years of experience as a data analyst and business consultant and joined the DNI Consulting team in 2018. She has collaborated with businesses all over the country and participated in data related roles for private and public-school districts as well as major marketing and financial firms. Colleen is professionally trained in data modeling, Microsoft Suite products and Google Suite products. Colleen also serves as the Speaker Chair on the Board of Together Digital, a national female empowerment organization. She is responsible for bringing talented speakers to community events and supporting growth from within by introducing members to mentors. Colleen holds a BA in Engineering from Manhattan College in NYC. She lives in Seattle, Washington and enjoys traveling the world.
Jennifer Malefsky (she/her)
Virtual Assistant
Jennifer joined the DNI Consulting team in 2024, and brings over a decade of experience as a teacher, curriculum writer, and executive assistant. She is passionate about helping values-driven organizations grow and thrive. Jennifer lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Your work gave us a doable plan, helped us think strategically, and gave us the important data we needed to move forward. As a result, we have expanded our enrollment management program, the board is using the enrollment report from you as a foundation for strategic planning, and we are currently grappling with the bigger questions that were presented and opportunities for change that we need to consider to impact enrollment.
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“We saw a 46% increase in inquiries after working with Dana.”
CASE STUDIES
We are proud of our client results and invite you to click below to get a behind-the-scenes look at some sample projects we have completed.
CHALLENGE
School A is a well-known K-12 school with a very successful signature program located in a mid-sized city. The school was considering adding a boarding component to their high school program. The campus was large enough but would require new or remodeled buildings. They engaged us to research ten metro areas within a five-hour drive of the campus for feasibility of adding a boarding program.
CHALLENGE
School B is a small, under-enrolled school just outside a major metropolitan area. The school was on the brink of closing and engaged us to assist with enrollment feasibility questions as well as marketing strategy. They felt that the only option for sustainability was to broaden their service area and asked us to learn about several geographic areas as well as their own.
CHALLENGE
School C is a full, waitlisted school in a major metropolitan area where there is a great deal of competition.
Summarily, the goals of the research were to understand demographic trends at play in the next several years that may impact enrollment planning. Additionally, the school wanted to understand more about the segmentation distribution of the current population and patterns in the market segmentations of families who drop out of the admission process at each point in the admission funnel.
“We had 100% yield in our admission offers for the first time in my career after working with DNI Consulting.
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Client List, Workshop, and Speaking Engagements
“The work we did with DNI Consulting opened our eyes to a new way to look at our parent body and market: psychographics. Dana’s analysis and ability to help us make sense of the data was exceptional. Dana was easy to work with, on time with deliverables, and thought several steps ahead, thereby heading off problems. We are very glad to have worked with her.
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“Dana has excellent presentation skills and gave a high value session. She took complex issues and made them understandable and actionable.”
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“Dana has great energy and a background that gives her excellent insight into our challenges.”
“Engaging topic, interactive presentation, learned a lot! Great presenter!”
“Concrete examples and practical lessons really helped bring difficult concepts to life!”
“Nice to have action steps and suggestions in this session. Lots of concrete opportunities to apply what was shared for any size of school.”
“You get things done! Any school that needs assistance with any project will benefit from partnering with you - you have a wealth of independent school experience, and working together is delightful!”
How to Reach Us
We would love to talk with you about your school and how we might be able to support you. Please feel free to set up a time to talk on Dana’s calendar here or send us an email at dana(at)dniconsulting.biz. You are also welcome to fill out the form below.
We look forward to starting a conversation with you.
Feel free to fill out the form below and we'll get right back to you, or contact using the phone or email information above.